Okay, I changed my mind and now believe he actually did lose the front like he said he did. Watching the video in 1/4 speed you can see the front go away which causes the left peg to grab asphalt and start the bike spinning to the left which makes it look like he lost the rear.

And it could have been because of moisture. It was spitting a little bit earlier in that same session. I was on race slicks and it felt like I was still getting good grip although I was paying extra attention for any slips due to dampness:

Okay, I changed my mind and now believe he actually did lose the front like he said he did. Watching the video in 1/4 speed you can see the front go away which causes the left peg to grab asphalt and start the bike spinning to the left which makes it look like he lost the rear.

Yeah you're right, I just watched back at 1/4 speed too a bunch of times, can see the front slip just a bit. Pretzel remark still stands. Crossing up cost him precious headroom for clearance due to more lean angle required, and being crossed unconsciously puts more weight on the inside bar making it less likely the front will catch itself.

Bummer. I'm sure his style works for him, does for plenty of others. Has its drawbacks though like harder to catch the front end, does have a caveat of being easier to catch a spinning rear though.

It's funny you mention that. I actually slipped in the exact same spot as this guy did when he went down and I caught it with my knee. There must be a groove or something in that spot because I wasn't going full speed and had a good slip on the front. I caught it on video:

At the 4:02 mark is where it happens. If you slow it down to .75 or .5 you can see my bike tilt a little, then you'll hear my knee puck scrape (me catching the bike from going down) and then I said "whoah". I had completely forgotten about it by the next corner as I have had this happen enough it didn't really bother me that much. Didn't remember until I saw it watching back the video.